First, I clean skin. After putting about 16 nails in the skin to keep it snug, I literally shave the entire skin with a VERY sharp knife. After shaving I go over it with a paintscraper to get as much moisture/grease out of the skin as possible. I dry in a 8x6x4 enclosure with two fans and 500 watts of IR lighting as a heat source. The relative humidity of coastal Oregon in the winter runs about 90% so the fans and heat are an absolute nessecity. It sounds like a lot of extra work but I still finish beaver start of skinning to last nail in less than 45 minutes, usually closer to half an hour. I taught beaverpeeler this method about 35 years ago and he does a comparable job. As his catch went up into the hundreds, I did notice a slight tendancy on his part to "get a little lazy" on the put up!! LOL

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Life Member NTA & FTA "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain

When handling beaver watch out for the false knife cuts(scores on leather side).Also use the line patterns given out by the auction house to get the proper stretch.The bright white color on the otherwise darker leathered skins(early)can be a result of overstretching(looks like frost dried)Frost scraping is OK if you have the climatic conditions to make it work properly but stay away from frost drying.Also remove the entire ear and cartilage-only takes a couple seconds when boarding (pelts will dry faster and stack better).I close the holes like leg holes but that is not necessary.

Alright yall,I keep drying beaver on the boards and I think they're dry. Then I take them off and they curl into kind of a u during the next week. My thinking is they must not be dry enough when I take them off. I am stapling them on the boards. Do I need to nail them and lift a little to get more air? I been wondering this and trying to get it worked out. I have a pretty good pile of beaver that are all in a slight u shape. It's annoying the crap outta me. ThanksTy

Quite often Ive moved unboarded beaver from drying area into cold storage and at times they bent up in a U like you said/ If it bugs you get a piece of plywood and set in onto your stack of hides that should keep them flat

Wow...looks like you need some more practice, I've got about 21 in the freezer you can practice on....

Seriously, how do you get it so clean especially around the face like that

The bigger question would be "Why do you flesh the head so good?" It's not necessary...... Beaver, like coon, should be fleshed from the back of the ears on down. It is a good idea to knock the chunks off around the ears so you don't get a tainted, stinky area on the pelt, but that's about it. I'd also recommend using an electric stapler to put them on the board, unless you only plan to finish three or four a day...

Absolutely true. I have fleshed my share of beaver and honestly, unless there are chunks of meat on the face, I don't even consider fleshing it. Waste of time in my opinion, and the time I would have spent fleshing faces adds up to another 3-4 whole beaver fleshed by the end of the day the way I see it.

Wire hoops works good if you dont want to haul heavy plywood around. Ive used hoops when i run a spring long line away from home. Being that air reaches both sides they dry faster providing it isnt humid. Blanket bvr will buckle on a hoop but you can put something heavy on hoop wire.. Also you will need to use wire or special clamp to give bvr a oval shape as wanted by buyers.

First, I clean skin. After putting about 16 nails in the skin to keep it snug, I literally shave the entire skin with a VERY sharp knife. After shaving I go over it with a paintscraper to get as much moisture/grease out of the skin as possible. I dry in a 8x6x4 enclosure with two fans and 500 watts of IR lighting as a heat source. The relative humidity of coastal Oregon in the winter runs about 90% so the fans and heat are an absolute nessecity. It sounds like a lot of extra work but I still finish beaver start of skinning to last nail in less than 45 minutes, usually closer to half an hour. I taught beaverpeeler this method about 35 years ago and he does a comparable job. As his catch went up into the hundreds, I did notice a slight tendancy on his part to "get a little lazy" on the put up!! LOL

Well your method works very well, and now hundreds of us BP wannabees are copying it.

what are the measurements when you are stretching them in a oval? what do you go off of?

NAFA has templates available that can be used to draw the pattern on the board. You can get them by contacting NAFA or one of there shipping agents. I am guessing that FHA probably also has a template as well.